Last weekend officially kicked off the start of new Singlefinger build. This one's a '32 for which I have been collecting parts for over a year (or 3). I'm pretty excited, because we're itching to try incorporating a number of unusual ideas from "back in the day" cars into this project. The most fun & exciting part of any project is picking a style or an era as the theme for your build. The HARDEST part is holding that theme, especially with all of the helpful suggestions from your buddies. Often the pile of parts that you find in front of you can help set that direction for you. The chassis that we will be using came out from under a late 60's/early 70's built 3wdo, that was rebuilt a couple of years ago. So rather than "reinventing the wheel", that chassis, along with some other parts on the shelf, sets the stage for a mid-60's theme for this rod. The old coupe had a SBF/C4 combo in it, with an 8" out of a Mustang pushing it around. That gives us something out of the ordinary to think about for motivation. Heck, we may even keep the parallel leaf springs that they used, just to be different... once we fix the obvious mess in this photo. There were very few hot rodders in the 50's, 60's or 70's that reinforced their '32 frames more than what was needed to hold up the tail end of the transmission. However, there were a unique few that tried to improve on the support that the factory K-member gave the chassis. I remember reading an article many years ago, about a creative ol' rodder that used late 30's or early 40's center sections to laterally strengthen their Deuce or A-bone frames. This old school Engineering really appeals to me, because it looks cool & fits into my vision for a 60's era build. (note: there are 1 or 2 HAMB threads on this from years ago) After talking with a LOT of the Colorado Legends (aka: grumpy old farts) who told me that I'm nuts (surprise), on Saturday I grabbed a '37 frame that Timhl050 had listed in the HAMB classifieds. (thanks Tim!) It was a good, but not a great frame, so the cheap price & the heavy pitted RH outer rail made it the perfect candidate for major surgery. The center X-member parts still looked good enough to strengthen the OG '32 chassis & will fit the boxed sections better than later frame reinforcements would. After more than just a few hours of grinding the rivet heads off, drilling into each rivet, beating the hell out of each one with a hammer n punch, & making a glorious racket... the frame gave up its bits. We've already sent these bits off to the blaster, now it's time to dig the chassis out from being stored (buried) in the backroom of the shop for so long... The pile of cast offs was "picked" even before the job was finished! Dustyoldbodyman needed the rear frame portion for a project that he's been collecting parts for... LOL
You come from Boston area WAY back in the day, Right? This should be a cooool build! East Coast.. also, I used the very center part of a 35 X in my 32 build. It was only a 30" or so, piece that was cut out of an old survivor 35 rod, so that the new modern drivetrain would fit into that 35. I turned it around backwards so the front ball socket for the front wishbone, was now the ball socket for my 35 rear trailing arms that are now a true rear wishbone, by using a 32 front yoke to make the rear wishbone. Works slick, .
Nope, my Bean-Town buddy, Ray is Safariknut on the forum, but him n I like a lot of the same ideas. Sent from my SM-N900P using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Hey nice to see ya putting something together..I have a killer tool to get rid of those river heads..ask Bob about the file belt tool..
The Jalopy Journal
